Milk, mom or interaction?

Heikkilä et al found more problematic behavior amongst children who were not breastfed as infants. Based on their research data they were unable to identify the cause for these findings: the milk or other mother related factors. Breastfeeding often is seen as solely a way to shove superior food into an infant. Of course it isn’t. Breastfeeding is a process that is carried out by two persons and that influences and is influenced by the hormonal systems of both participants. The milk is a collateral benefit. Because this idea is not common yet, results like those of Heikkilä et al are often trivialized by explaining it is probably because mothers who tend to choose to breastfeed are commonly more attentive and aware and therefor raise better functioning kids. Other studies (like one by Kim c.s., 2011) point out that the act of breastfeeding alters maternal brain function, resulting in better responses towards their offspring. therefore, it could very well be the process of breastfeeding that influences the behavior of children, but not so much the act of being breastfed, but more that of maternal breastfeeding. Mothers who choose to breastfeed are not better mothers, but the act of breastfeeding can help make them better moms.
Heikkilä K, Sacker A, Kelly Y, Renfrew MJ, Quigley MA: 012 Breast feeding and behavioural development in children: findings from the Millennium Cohort Study. J Epidemiol Community Health 2010;64:A5
P Kim, R Feldman, LC Mayes, V Eicher, N Thompson, JF Leckman, and JE Swain (2011). Breastfeeding, brain activation to own infant cry, and maternal sensitivity. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, April 18, 2011